Halifax is seeing record levels of apartment construction, but there continue to be challenges with building housing, according to a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
More than 10,000 apartments were under construction in Halifax as of June. At the same time, the number of overall housing units that started construction in the first half of the year dropped compared to previous years.
“Developers were facing geopolitical and economic uncertainty and also some reported lengthy approval times,” said CMCH economist Kelvin Ndoro, adding that some developers may have delayed projects in anticipation of potentially lower interest rates.
Ndoro said in Halifax it takes between 24 to 29 months on average to finish an apartment after construction begins.
As part of writing the report, CMHC engaged with people in the industry. “Developers highlighted cases where obtaining the initial approval for the projects took longer than building the units, making permits a significant drag on housing supply,” the report said.
In Halifax, many projects are on hold due to a lack of labour, according to the report.
The president of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia said labour shortages remain a “chronic issue” that is not improving.
“We’re not training enough people,” said Duncan Williams. “We are making inroads and … collaborating with other industry partners and with various training organizations, but it does take time to adjust those things.”
He added that the federal government needs to allow more experienced tradespeople to immigrate to Canada as permanent residents.
“Without that, we are going to continue to see … a chronic shortage in our workforce which will impede the speed at which we can build,” Williams said.
In a statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said it “acknowledges the critical role that construction workers play in building and growing our cities and that immigration must adapt to Canada’s evolving priorities.”
To that end, it pointed to a number of programs targeting newcomers who want to work in the construction sector, including a pilot launched two years ago in Nova Scotia that allows candidates with job offers to use occupational training to meet education requirements.
The statement also highlighted a federal policy change earlier this year that will temporarily allow foreign nationals registered as apprentices in more than 20 construction trades to complete their studies without a study permit. The department said recent updates to the federal post-graduation work permit program would “create a pipeline” of skilled international graduates in the trades and beyond.
“These changes are intended to enable graduates to transition more seamlessly from education into the areas of the workforce in greatest need, and later, potentially become permanent residents,” the statement said.
In April, the province announced $10 million in funding going, in part, toward expanding apprenticeship programs and helping underemployed people, newcomers and veterans transition to careers in the trades.
The report said “ground-oriented construction” such as for single-family and semi-detached homes declined compared to last year in Halifax. It pointed to added costs as a reason projects often became infeasible.
This is in contrast with cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal where construction activity was up.
While there’s been growing construction of rental housing, the importance of home ownership needs to be recognized, said Ndoro.
“When people are unable to move from rental housing into home ownership because home ownership has become unaffordable, it keeps rent prices growing,” he said. “It keeps vacancy rates in rentals low.”
Housing starts in Atlantic Canada are expected to remain high this year and next, the report said.
